An Imperfect Copy
by Dartxni
Summary: [Finished] Nancy's sister becomes a part of the British Library Task Force in order to learn more about her sister and herself. Yomiko struggles to get over Nancy's death. Can Nancy's sister be trusted?
1. Situation: Failure

**An Imperfect Copy**

**Chapter 1**

**Situation: Failure**

The Paper pulled a piece of paper from her long trench coat pocket, which formed instantly into a knife that she used to cut the hostage from where her arms were bound to the table leg. The hostage, a secretary, needed her help to get up from the floor, she was shaking so bad.

"Which way did it go?" The secretary looked blankly at her.

"Just stay here, you'll be all right." The Paper went to the door and looked out at the seemingly endless hallway that went off both left and right. Making a decision, she dashed left, pulling her suitcase of paper material with her. She heard a ripping sound from an office room ahead and knew she luckily had chosen aright. She stopped and pressed herself to the wall before the door from which the sound came, then stuck her head in quickly to get a glimpse. She quickly pulled her head back inside. The attacker was a monstrous humanoid shaped thing, with shaggy hair covering its whole body. It had its back turned toward her at the moment, and seemed to be terrorizing a couple of trapped secretaries and business types. The paper stepped fully in front of the door, popped open her suitcase for easy access and threw a sliver of paper, like a knife at the monster. A line of blood slashed across the things side and it let out a high pitched yell of pain, turning to look at it's offender. The monster's attention gone from them, the trapped people scrambled away from the corner they had been trapped in and out another door.

The monster advanced toward The Paper, growling and huffing. It took a swipe at her, and The Paper saw its long yellow claws scrape the door frame as she ducked away. She threw a piece of stationary at the outstretched claws, but they were sharp and cut right through the paper. The Paper stumbled back, falling on her butt, but such clumsiness was usual for her. She sent a stream of paper at the monster, hoping to slow it. The enormous amount of paper stuck like glue when it hit the monster. The monster tried to rip it off but it just kept coming, eventually overwhelming it and pushing it back into the office room. The Paper pressed her advantage, moving forward with it. She pushed it against the vary wall that it had trapped the office workers against, and when she began to run out of paper in her suitcase, she grabbed stacks of it from the surrounding desks. She was certainly in her element. Soon the monster was completely encased in paper. It struggled and shrieked and growled but it was not getting out.

The Paper let out a deep breath. She thought over the confrontation and realized that there was no way the oversized beast would have been able to tie that first girl to the table leg. Made aware, she began to restock her suitcase.

Suddenly, a hand phased through from the wall behind her, followed by an arm encased in black and then the body of a girl with purple hair and a skin tight black outfit. The Paper sensed the presence of the woman behind her and turned quickly. Seeing Miss Deep, she gasped and backed up quickly. Miss Deep strode forward, and smug smile on her face.

"Miss me, dear?"

"Oh no." The Paper felt suddenly completely vulnerable. She did the only thing she thought she could do, turned and ran, only training reminding her to keep a hold on her suitcase.

"Hiding doesn't suit you." Miss Deep phased through the wall right in front of her. She reached toward The Paper.

"You're too cute to hide." The Paper threw up a shield of paper, but Miss Deep's hand simply phased right through it. She reached out to touch The Paper's face, drawing her finger down her jaw line, then taking a pinch of her cheek and stretching it.

"You should be smiling. I've always liked your smile."

The Paper turned her face away, blushing violently, heart thumping in fear. Miss Deep's face took on a disgusted look and she brushed the paper shield away. As soon as she touched it, the paper lost its form, the person who had given it strength having given up already.

"You killed me," Miss Deep hissed. She viciously plunged her hand into The Deeps chest and squeezed her heart.

"Simulated Combat Over. Situation: Failure" The mechanical voice of the computer cut through the small speakers Yomiko wore in her ears. She ripped the headset and visor off her face and leaped out of the chair she had been sitting in. The Joker watched as she ran out of the room crying.

He sighed, "I don't think she is ready."

Drake Anderson looked at the last image on the screen, of Miss Deeps hand plunging into The Paper's chest. "Kind of cruel imagery, there. Couldn't you have introduced her in a nicer way?"

The Joker shook his head. "The simulator works on a combination of preset values and suggestion. We simply placed the character specifications into the matrix. Yomiko imagined how it would act. I had hoped it would go better, but…"

"Are you still going to go through with this?"

"Yomiko will never be as effective in the field until she passes through this. The only reason she could loose in this simulator is because she thought she was going to loose, or she wanted to loose. Also, now that _she_ is an agent, they are bound to meet up again. Yomiko and Nancy's styles were perfectly suited to each other. If Yomiko and Ninancy could work together in a similar fashion, their effectiveness would double."

"Yes, but…don't think it was cruel to put them against each other?"

"Sometimes you must be cruel to be kind." The Joker leaned over and turned off the switch for the simulator and the gas generator beside the imaging machine hissed off.


	2. Origami Butterfly

An Imperfect Copy

Chapter 2

Origami Butterfly

"Hello, Ninancy Makuhari. Do you mind being called that?" The Joker met the shy looking girl at the front of the library.

The girl bowed. "Nancy was a hero. I am honored to have her name."

"Yes, she was. You call yourself Ninancy to make the distinction between you?"

"Yes, I find people are more comfortable that way."

"You do look very much alike."

"Many people say so. Wow, look at all the books!" They had entered the main branch of the library and book stacks upon book stacks filled the luxuriously designed British Library.

"Do you like to read, Ninancy?"

"Oh yes. When I was recovering, I spent a lot of time in the library. I have lost my own memory, so I enjoyed reading about strong people who knew themselves well."

"I hope you are beginning to get a sense of yourself again."

"I do not know who I was before, and nobody else seems to know either. My sister was a hero. That is the center of my character. I think that learning more about her will help me understand more about myself."

"There is one here who may have understood your sister better than anyone else, but even she did not know her fully. I must warn you though, she was Nancy's partner when she died and she has unresolved feelings about the matter."

"Miss Readman? Yes, she visited me once. She made the most beautiful butterfly out of paper. I had not fully recovered at the time or I would have liked to spend more time with her. But she never came again. She was the one who told me my sister was a hero. I would not want to disturb her, but I doubt Nancy would want her to blame herself for my sister's death."

"You and Yomiko will surely find you have much in common. She loves books very much herself. It is something you to could talk about together." The Joker typed a few letters into a keypad. Suddenly, the bookshelves before them began to move accompanied by the sounds of mechanical whirs and rumbles. Revealed was a whole inner layer of rooms full of people busily working.

"Welcome to The British Library Task Force Headquarters. If you'll follow me, I'll introduce you to some of the people you will be working with."

Joker led her into the Headquarters, introducing her to various people. Finally, she was introduced to Drake Anderson.

"Hey, I'll show you the Workout Room and we'll see what you can do, alright?"

"Yes, that would be great." Ninancy smiled broadly at the excited look on his face. He was obviously a person who enjoyed fighting.

"Have you ever phased before?"

"Yes, once. I didn't even know I could do it," she giggled, "until one day I dropped a knife back at the center. It went right through my foot. I thought I was crazy as well as an amnesiac until Joker sent some video footage of Nancy going through walls. I also got to see Yomiko in action. They were both amazing, but I still treasure this most of all."

Ninancy drew a book from her purse and opening the book, pulled out a flattened origami butterfly, which she had carefully preserved.

Drake raised his eyebrow at her treasure, but decided not to comment. He would not tell her that Yomiko had drawn into herself lately and stopped making such pretty useless things as origami butterflies.

At first Yomiko had seemed all right after the Beethoven Fiasco, as they often called it, but as the weeks went by she had become more and more solemn. He often found her reading distressing poetry and twirling that book mark. The entire headquarters had felt Yomiko moving into her depression, as if her heart was part of the center of the British Library Task force. The soft giggles of Ninancy already seemed to warm the stale air.

Yomiko heard the uncommon sound of giggles coming from the Workout Room. Curious, she sped up her walking speed, even going so far as to bookmark the book of poetry she was reading from as she walked. What she saw through the open door almost caused her to drop the book entirely.

"Nancy?" Disbelief and elation warred in her voice.

Ninancy forgot to phase at the sound of Yomiko's voice. The tennis ball, which Drake had thrown at her, bounced off her stomach.

"Ow! Oh, Miss Readman!" Ninancy quickly bowed to the stunned agent.

Drake cleared his throat. "Yomiko, this is Ninancy, Miss Deep's sister. You've met?"

Yomiko felt herself grow faint. She tried to answer, "yes," but fell to the floor instead.

"Oh, Miss Readman, I'm afraid I have upset you."

Yomiko saw Nancy's clone reaching down to help her up. The gesture was too much like Nancy's own last gesture, as she let her hand phase out of Yomiko's that horrible day.

"Please. I'm okay." Yomiko pulled away from Ninancy's hand and pushed herself off the floor.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I…I am now." Yomiko closed her eyes for a second to compose herself. When she opened them, it was as if she were meeting Nancy all over again, reaching for the same book. She looked down and focused on Ninancy's feet. "So, you call yourself Ninancy?"

"Yes, Nancy number 2." Nancy smiled. "You were the person who first told me about my sister."

Yomiko sighed. Nancy. "Would you mind if I gave you a nickname all your own?"

"Should you? Perhaps that would make me feel more myself. I knew it was the right thing to come here."

"Can I call you Nina? A person should have their own name." You can't be Nancy, Yomiko said only in her mind.

Drake threw a case of tennis balls to Yomiko.

"We were practicing phasing out of the way of flying objects. Do you wanna throw a cross fire?"

"I…sure."

Yomiko lay on her bed twirling a book mark over her head. Unread books piled around her; ones about love, about adventure, ones about mysteries unsolved. Yomiko felt that she could be a character in any one of her books, but books were a pale imitation of real life. Nancy had known so much about love. Love was about sacrificing your dreams for someone else. Yomiko had never tasted true adventure, until she had leapt with full trust into the empty sky to catch a book and known without a doubt that Nancy would be there to catch her. And mystery. Yomiko dreamed every day that Nancy had lived and it was her cruel twin who had fallen into the sea. "Take care of my little sister," she had said. Yomiko would do that, but in the depths of her mind, she would always wonder if it was really Nancy who she now called Nina.

Such thoughts were worthless. Yomiko rolled over on her bed and tried to stifle her tears into her pillow. Love is worthless, when the one who you love does not love you back. Why did Nancy have to waste her love on such a worthless man? Yomiko brought the book mark up to her face. It had crumpled a little. She tried to smooth it out. Why did you have to waste your love, Nancy? Yomiko carefully hooked the bookmark on the windowsill beside her bed and turned out the light. She lay back in her bed and tried to be as still as possible. Why did you waste your love?


	3. Your Nancy

An Imperfect Copy

Chapter 3

Your Nancy

Nina woke up from her dreams as usual with a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She knew that she had been dreaming of her life before almost drowning, but could not remember even a single bit. One of the nurses at the Rehabilitation Center had suggested that she have someone hypnotize the past memories to the surface, but Nina felt that whatever demons she had lurking in the past would surface when she was ready to face them. For now she luxuriated only in the feeling of having a purpose in her life, something that had been severely lacking during all her time of rest.

Everyday she practiced phasing and soon fighting as well at the Library. She had the feeling not of learning something new but of remembering old skills. She began to realize that Joker and all of his people, friendly though they were, were keeping something from her. Her sister and not she had been an agent, yet she had the motor skills of a fighter. She knew that she and her sister were both clones, but not of whom. She did not even know how her sister had died, only that she had died saving the world and…supposedly Nina as well. Yomiko had been with her and Yomiko still felt intense guilt for Nancy's death, but Drake assured Nina that Yomiko could have done nothing to stop it. Some things just did not add up.

"You can't wear that."

"Yomiko, I did not hear you come in." Nina was looking at herself in the mirror. She was wearing Miss Deep's uniform. "I was just curious. It feels…familiar. But this was Nancy's uniform. Why do I recognize it so well?"

"You must have borrowed it before, or something. You were sisters."

Yomiko was blushing hard and looking studiously at the floor. Nina recognized these actions as meaning that she had inadvertently done something to remind Yomiko of her and Nancy's shared past.

"Aren't you getting your own costume?" Yomiko demanded, still looking away.

"But why couldn't I just wear this one? She won't ever need it again."

"Nina!"

Nina met Yomiko's shocked eyes. "I don't see why I shouldn't just wear her clothes and take her name. I'm even taking her place as your partner. I think I'll just choose the name Miss Deep. It will make this all much easier."

"You'll never be half the person your sister was," Yomiko said hotly. "She…"

"She what? She saved the world, that's what she did. I know. You've all told me that enough times. But never the specifics. Like why was I there? There was only one Agent Deep, and that spot has already been filled. I must have had a roll, but you have not given me any. My only choice is to become my sister. All of you want her back, I can tell, especially you, Yomiko. I can tell. Well, can't you just accept me instead?"

The black costume had given Nina the confidence to stalk toward Yomiko. With a thrill she realized that the movements were ones she had made before. Yomiko seemed to freeze against the wall of the changing stall, an expression of horror on her face. Nina knew she was doing something terribly wrong that just might end a friendship that she had come to depend on, forever. But she could not help herself. She was too frustrated with the lies to stop now.

"Why can't I just be your Nancy for you?" she whispered in Yomiko's ear.

"Get away from me." Yomiko pushed Nina away from her with all her might and Nina let herself be pushed into a wall.

Even as Yomiko ran away crying for the second time that week, Nina felt a smug smile settle on her face. She felt real for the first time in months. Deep inside she realized that she must not have been the nicest of people in her former life, but the feeling of finding herself drowned out what feeble complaints her conscience made.

"I think Nina is remembering."

Joker sat up with a jerk from where he had been taking a lunchtime snooze at his desk.


	4. Future Choices

An Imperfect Copy

Chapter 4

Future Choices

"She was acting like…acting like…"

"The evil clone?"

"Yes." Yomiko reflexively touched her neck where the clone had placed her mark.

Joker brushed his finger under his eye to get rid of some sleep dust, then whipped out his handy dandy old-fashioned telephone cell phone.

"Drake, would you bring Nina up to the office? And…don't hurt her, but be careful."

"If it is the clone, he wouldn't be able to hurt her," said Yomiko. She had once again withdrawn her bookmark from whatever place she kept it, Joker noticed with a frown.

"I would prefer to think of her as our Nina."

When Nina came in, followed by Drake, she had returned to her civilian clothes. She preferred to wear fitted suits. Yomiko had an idea she was copying the style from Joker.

"Nina, do you remember what happened before you almost drowned?"

"No, why do you ask?" Then she saw Yomiko and smiled. "Or, was it something in my personality which set off the buzzer?" She walked toward Yomiko, "Are you afraid of me?"

The Joker coughed, "Drake."

Drake Anderson whipped a metal cuff out of his pocket and snapped it onto Nina's hand before she could phase out of the way. She looked down at the cuff curiously.

"Handcuffs?" she said, astonished. "What good are…"

She tried to phase her hand out of the bond, but though her hand went opaque, the bond, made out of a metal that had no shine, did not fall off.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"If you do not answer every question I ask you in a truthful manner then you will be put in room made entirely of that material," The Joker said seriously.

"Please, what did I do?"

Drake put his hand on her shoulder.

"Please, just answer the questions, Nina."

"What is your name!" Joker barked.

"Nina!" Nina said startled, "or Ninancy Makuhari, maybe."

The sound of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" began to play from a CD player on Joker's desk. Nina had no reaction other than surprise.

Suddenly, Yomiko could not take it any longer. She shut off the player and grabbed Nina's arm, the one with the metal cuff.

"Why did you try to kill her?"

"Who?" Nina tried to pull her hand away from the woman who was shaking with tears. She felt slightly ill and somewhere in her mind she knew that whatever Yomiko was about to say was not something she wanted to hear.

"Your sister! Nancy! Why did you try to kill her!"

"Take care of my little sister for me." Yomiko was not acting up to the task. They had been pretending that Nina the amnesiac was an entirely new person, one whose personality could be molded to their liking, but they were ignoring the fact that even if Nina never remembered her past, she was still the same person who had fought on the side of the enemy, tried to kill her own sister and plotted to make everyone in the world die. That is not to say she was a bad person, only that she had different needs than those of a child, and treating her like a play doll would help nothing. Yomiko remembered how Nina had reacted after she had told her she had tried to kill her sister.

The blood had drained from Nina's face. She had taken a step back from Yomiko, and wobbled. Drake had placed a chair behind her, which she sank into.

"Was I such a villain? I had to have been. Why do I only feel normal when I am being cruel? Why do I mistrust you all so much?"

"You can't remember anything?" Yomiko implored.

"No. I wish I could, although I am beginning to think I will hate to find out."

"You will remember eventually." Yomiko reassured her.

"But what if I become wicked?"

"Nina, you will always have a choice. Even if it seems that you were a horrible person, even horrible people can change. Nancy taught me that. Nancy wasn't a saint, and perhaps I was wrong to let you think she was. She was simply a person, who although she made a lot of bad choices in her life, at last when things were really on the line she became the best person of all. You've been given a chance to remake your life without the weight of your previous choices. If you do bad things in the future then I will have to stop you, but Nina, I don't think you're a bad person, even so. I don't know why you did what you did, and maybe I'll never find out. I never understood Nancy either. Maybe together we can find out who you are, and that person won't be bad or good, but who you are will depend on the choices you make in the future, not the ones you have made in the past.

Nina had curled her cuffed hand around Yomiko's.

"I don't want to be a horrible person, but sometimes I will need help not to be. Yomiko, Drake, Joker?" she had looked each in the eye in turn. "Will you help me become a person my sister would have been proud of?"

"Lets take this off you for now," Drake knelt beside Nina's chair and began unlocking the cuff with a key from his pocket. "You haven't done anything to deserve it yet."

"You'll trust me?" Nina felt herself to profoundly lacking any reason to be trusted.

"In my eyes, you are a new person, Nina Makuhari."


End file.
